Special Tools, Jigs, and Fixtures

Luthiers make many of their own tools, often out of necessity.
Below are some of the jigs and tools that I've made. Methods
of work are also revealed by the tools.

Tools are enjoyable to build. I think the problem
solving is a big appeal to me personally. Or maybe it's just a
different aesthetic than instrument building, or a break from caring
so much about how things look.

I use almost all of these tools on every instrument I build. I'm building
fewer jigs now, but I'm tweaking the ones I have.

Luthiers tend to share their ideas and creativity with other
luthiers, even with those who might normally be considered
competitors. I'm not sure what it is that makes luthiers more
generous in this way than other entrepreneurs, but I've seen the behavior again and again.
These photos and explanations are offered in that spirit.

Due to popular demand, I am now doing some lutherie teaching.
Please see my Instruction Page for more
information.

Saddle Shim Cutting Guide

This tool is my own design. It aligns bone shim stock and a
blade to cut precise 1/8" saddle shims. And the back has a
slot to hold the shim for sanding.

A video on how this works and how I made it can be seen on
YouTube here.

These are available for purchase (holder only) for $39 plus
shipping. While they last.
Contact me if
you're interested in purchasing one.

Bridge Slotting Jig

This jig allows accurate routing of saddle slots into bridges.
Shown with the plunge router base it will be used with.

Fret Press and Tower

I like to press in my frets at eye level, so I built this stand
to elevate my inexpensive arbor press.

Downdraft Table

This was a no-brainer once I had central dust collection.
It's not much more than a box on casters with some baffles inside
and a grid on top. Works great as long as the work isn't too
big. I use it without a dust mask.

Side sound port cutting jig

This template clamps to a ukulele side for cutting an elliptical
hole for a sound port with a router. This size of the hole is
controlled by using different guide bearings and different sized
router bits.

Circle cutters

These are precision manual circle
cutters for cutting sound holes and rosette channels. The black
adjustable one in the front is an expensive commercial version with
a scale that I added. The seven behind it will be fixed
radii (non-adjustable) when I add axis pins as I determine the radii
needed. The loose blades (on top of them) are $4 replacement blades
for the commercial version that have yet to be sharpened, but will
be clamped by the small wood blocks with the two screws. Brass
threaded inserts are concealed by the clamps.

The point is the ability to return precisely to a previously used
setting which is lost when the commercial version is re-set. A
secondary benefit is efficiency in set-up time once each radii is
fixed.

Half templates

A fundamental tool. Many uses from the shaping of body molds
to the instrument tops and backs. Shown are three sizes of
ukuleles.

Split
Body Mold

Shown here with a bending form, a plastic half template, and a paper
bracing template. The body of the instrument is built inside this mold
which helps force the shape of the bent sides. One each of
these molds must be made
for each body size and shape built.

Fox Side Bender

In my opinion, the king of all lutherie jigs.
A system of molds and cauls for bending the sides of an instrument
with heat. I learned to build this from the inventor himself,
Charles Fox. This one is adapted to ukuleles. Shown with
4 sizes of ukulele molds. The heat blanket, steel slats, heat
controller, and other essential
items are not shown here.

Hot Pipe Rig

This is another method for bending wood; over a hot pipe. Time
consuming but better control than a Fox style bender. It's
especially useful for fine tuning previously bent work and the super
tight bends in my "rope" rosettes. The pipe, torch
and vise were purchased; all I had to make was the torch stand.

Edge joining clamp.

This is an ancient method for joining bookmatched top and back
plates. The wedges apply simultaneous downward and horizontal
clamping pressure.

Shown in use.

Adjustable vise wedge

This allows parallel vise jaws to clamp a wedge shape, like the
instrument head shown.

This was an early jig and is shown with the neck from my tenor
ukulele
kit.

Brace Radiusing jig and bumper

This is for sanding a 15 foot (or greater) radius into the bottom
of my bracing. The stock is held by the shopmade clamps, and
the slightly curved base rides against the angle aluminum bumper as
the belt sander grinds the curve. A time saver!

Head and Tail block radiuser

Another bumper guided sanding jig. This one for putting the
curve into heel and end blocks.

Circle Cutting Trim Router Base

Self explanatory.

Scarf Joint Jig

The main function of this jig is the cutting of accurate neck scarf
joints on the band saw. Pictured is the secondary function of
gluing the scarf joint.

The scarf joined neck is generally considered stronger than the
one piece neck.

Dovetail Jig

This is the jig I use in conjunction with a router to cut the
dovetail pins into the necks and the dovetail slots into the bodies.
It allows subtle adjustments of that joint. Thanks Robbie
O'Brien for the design!

Fingerboard Taper Jig

This is a table saw sled that helps cut a taper into my
fingerboards. One side cuts one side of the fingerboard, the
other side, the other.

Binding Slot Cutter

This elaborate router base remains stationary as an instrument body's edge is
turned against it to cut the rabbits for the edge binding.
There's a bit of a learning curve with this one. Not
for the faint of heart!

One to one Pantograph Duplicator

This rather complex device is for cutting inlay and inlay
channels with a Dremmel tool (left) and follower in a pin vise
(right). It's movement is based on ball-bearing drawer
sliders.

Go Bar Deck and Sanding Dish

Uses wooden dowels or other flexible material as a compression
clamp. Shown here clamping the center strip onto the inside of
a ukulele back. It's an elegant system; powerful, precise, and
simple.

Also shown (in green) is a radius sanding dish. This
particular one is a 15 foot radius which is the radius I use on my
backs. It's used primarily for sanding but also as a clamping
mold/caul as shown here.

Fret Slotting Table Saw Sled

This sled rides in the table saw miter slots and uses an accurate
plastic template (in white) that registers with a metal pin in the
fence to cut precise fret slots in fingerboards. The 0.023"
thick blade protrudes from the slot in the sled. Faster and
much more precise than hand cutting.

Fingerboard Registration Drill Guide

It's of crucial importance to accurately place the fingerboard on
the neck when gluing. Glue is slippery when wet and this
template with brass lined guide holes helps place 1/8" wooden
registration pins to lock the fingerboard in place.

Deep throat thickness caliper

Used for precisely measuring wood thickness under one inch.
Accurate to 0.001".

I've since made a stand for this so I don't have to clamp it in a
vise.

Precision Sanding Blocks

These foot long aluminum blocks are precision ground flat to
0.001". I use 220 grit with a shooting board for final
preparation of book matched plate joints, 600 grit for fret
leveling, and 120 grit for general purpose flattening work.
Handy tools but some tedious grinding to make.

Vacuum Pump Rig

Vacuum makes for exceptional clamping. It pulls 21 inches of mercury.
Design by Joe Woodworker. See various clamps
below.

Vacuum Bridge Clamp

It's difficult to clamp a bridge to an instrument body due to the
precision required, the force required, and the fragility of an
instrument top. This vacuum clamp solves it. Shown in
use on Tenor Ukulele #7. These are commercially available for
guitars. Uke builders have to make them.

Vacuum bench clamp

It's difficult to hold a fragile instrument body for two handed
operations like scraping. This clamp can be used as shown or turned
90° to hold a body perpendicular to the bench.

Shown with a 6" ruler for scale and the convex radiused sanding
block I used to grind a hollow into the clamping face.

You can see the vacuum pump under the bench.

Bridge locating scale gauge

This device helps to precisely locate the bridge prior to gluing.

Shown in use with Cavaquinho #6

Fingerboard Radiusing Jig

Quickly grinds a radius into a fingerboard by rocking a carriage
in a frame.

This contraption clamps to a belt sander. The bottom photo
shows the frame and bearings, the middle photo shows the carriage,
cams, and vacuum clamp, the top photo shows the device ready to
operate.

I recently swapped out the vacuum clamp for a formica surface and
double-stick tape. I had designed the vacuum clamp to work for
all sizes of ukuleles and it didn't work on any of them very well.
So that feature is back on the drawing board.

Wood Milling Setup

This combines a drill press planer from MusicTools (Brazil) and a
jig that I modified from a Charles Fox design. The primary
purpose is to tapir and flatten the area under the fingerboard on an
instrument neck. But it has other uses too. The holder
moves over the table freehand under the drill press mounted cutter.

Router Table

A router table isn't really a specialty luthier tool, but
luthiers use them and I built this one so I thought I'd include it.
I got the design from a book.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour. Special thanks to
Charles Fox, Mark Roberts, Robbie O'Brien, Gordon Mayer, Michael Grigg, and all the participants of the Robert O'Brien Guitar
Building Forum for your ideas and support.